Continuous Flex - Linear Motion Flex Cable Performance Test

Cables today are often required to perform under severe flexing situations. One such situation is cable-, or "C"- track installations which experience continuous flex - linear motion flexing.

Unfortunately there were no readily available standard flex test machines that would adequately define cable performance under accelerated conditions of continuous flex - linear motion. To circumvent this shortfall the Alpha Wire Company developed, and had built, the continuous flex - linear motion testing machine pictured below.

Capable of providing accelerated cable track motion for a protracted period of time, Alpha Wire has tested numerous continuous flex - linear motion flexing cables on this machine. Operating at a fixed at 17 cycles/minute, or 1,836,000 cycles/month, the only variable is the bend radius of the "C" tracks in which the cables are installed.

This machine has four tracks into which cable is installed. Two tracks utilize a 4.5-inch radius while the remaining two have a 6-inch radius.

Under test, the conductors within each cable are electrically interconnected to each other, in series, and to a counter that registers a single count for each completed cable flex cycle. This continues until one of the conductors in the cable breaks. This constitutes a failure and causes the counter for the sample to cease counting.

While there is no way, at this time, to relate flexes test performance to cable life, the test cycle is felt to be significantly more severe than most real-worlds "C" track installations seen today.

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